Larry Bird was leaning toward a return as Pacers president, former Celtics teammates tell Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News, until owner Herb Simon nixed the idea of adding a scorer to the team during a meeting with Bird in late June, shortly before Bird resigned June 26th. Bird was considering an offer for Eric Gordon, Lawrence writes, but Simon, who has a net worth of $1.8 billion, doesn't want to pay the luxury tax. Though Indiana has only about $36MM in guaranteed salaries for next season, the Pacers likely couldn't have brought aboard Gordon, who's signed an offer sheet with the Suns for the maximum four years and $58MM, and retained all their free agents without becoming a tax team. Bird's concerns about his shoulder and back were also reasons he stepped down, but the 55-year-old NBA legend left the door open for a return to another team's front office. Lawrence has more from around the league, and we've got the highlights here:

Some teams avoided giving an offer sheet to Roy Hibbert because of fears about potential knee and back problems, pegging his value at around $40MM instead of the $58MM he's reportedly been offered by the Blazers. If the Pacers match, they'll do so reluctantly, Lawrence writes.

Though the Hornets are likely to match the Suns' $58MM offer for Eric Gordon, it's about $14MM more than other teams believed he'd get. Lawrence also hears from another GM who believes the Timberwolves' offer sheet to Nicolas Batum is twice as much as he's worth.

The Thunder added a fourth year to their offer to coach Scott Brooks after they heard the Blazers were interested in having Brooks fill their coaching vacancy. Brooks signed a four-year, $18MM deal with the Thunder last week. The Blazers are still looking for a "brand name" coach, according to Lawrence.

2 thoughts on “Lawrence On Bird, Hibbert, Gordon, Brooks”

The story on Bird is mostly right except that the door is open for Bird to return to the Pacers front office, not just any random team. He’s only been with two organizations, Pacers and Celtics, and if one of those two teams don’t have anything for him, he’s not going to return to another team. That’s just how loyal Larry is. Im lucky to have a dad and a grandpa who knew Larry being from French Lick, and thats the Larry they remember.

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